Travel Blogs from La Spezia, Italy

27.7.06
LaSpezia, Italy
Drove to LaSpezia and Chinque Terre Italy for a break from the motorway and our own coffee and biscuits. Every morning Lynn and I each prepare a thermos for coffee stops along the way. This is a beautiful section of coast, ...

... UNESCO World Heritage protected and has sensational walking and climbing cliff paths. The Cinque Terre is a magical part of Italy the name meaning five towns. A myriad of paths link the villages with spectacular views of cliffs, coast and ...

In the morning I went into the direction of the Cinque Terre in Liguria. After I had taken the wrong way, and went via Pistoia in Tuscany, I finally arrived in the early afternoon. First I drove along the panoramic street and saw the villages from above. ...

... decided to walk around outside at 11:30pm. It was then that we encountered our first pleasant surprise: the city of LaSpezia was having its annual summer festival that weekend. There were street performers everywhere doing their various shows with tons ...

... savee folks). So now that we are up, we enjoy a nice breakfast downstairs in the restaurant. We are visiting the town of LaSpezia today. Several things that I want to get done and we get to see some of the town this way. We have to recharge our ...

... , means that it felt rewarding, sweaty, dusty and gross reaching each town.
After four nights we decided we'd visit Parugia, a town inbetween LaSpezia and Rome. Trying to be sneaky as it was only one stop, we hopped onto the train without a ticket and ...

This will be the last stop I make in Italy.
Today was a tiring day but worth the hike. Laspezia is known for being right next to the cinque terre which are five small towns along the coast of northern Italy and have amazing views and ...

... of the Cinque Terre (Five Lands) is named after the five little fishing villages that cling precariously to the cliffs northwest of LaSpezia. From here to Levanto the landscape is characterized by mountains cloaked in woods, terraces of vines and cliffs ...

... we did get to spend at least a little time on the beach. Jess frolicked. Bernie sat very quietly. We then headed straight back to LaSpezia and didn't stop at the rest of the towns. Bernie promptly went to sleep and Jess explored a little and went to the ...

... the Chief Engineer. After rushing out a couple of weeks blog entries and scanning my email, I spent an hour or two wandering around LaSpezia.
It was pleasant enough, but mostly closed and I didn't find an interesting old town - I'm sure it's there ...

... this from Verona so we have now done all the four sections of trails between teh villages).
The other find was a restaurant in LaSpezia called Pomodoro (tomato) which does great pizza. My favourite was ham, mushroom and cream. They also have a litre ...

After Cremona, we went to a very charming stretch of sea side on the north-western coast of Italy by the name of Cinque Terre. And although the place was choc-a-block full of tourists you could not deny the quaint beauty of these little towns ...

Felt very refreshed today!!! Slept well! Rob and I walked to the Farmers market in LaSpezia. This is no ordinary Farmers market. Oh my gosh!!! They had every kind of fish ever imaginable. Even sword fish! Every kind of vegetable and fruit... I ...

... 2 secs from the station where there was a lovely lady waiting for me to check me in. She suggested a little place 20mins south of LaSpezia by bus called Porte Venre which she thinks is better than the cinque terra. So of course I had to go check ...

After lucking out with a great afternoon in Florence, I got a train to LaSpezia, which is the main station before getting into the Cinque Terre. Since I'm traveling guideless, and on a whim, I got there to find out there's no hostels and expensive ...

I have always loved the photos I have seen of Cinque Terre (5 fishing towns on the coast) and always dreamt of going there! I was so excited to see it for real it is more amazing in person! We walked between the first 2 towns Riomaggiore and Manarola ...

Met the brothers from New Orleans/Houston - followed them on a crowed bus up into the hills, hoping to find a bed/room at the hostel where they were staying. All full. Met Mike, the Canadian who had an extra bed - and offered it to me. ...

Moved on from very busy Florence to peaceful beautiful Cinque Terre which means five towns. Its situated on the Italian Riviera about 60 ks north of Pisa. Jacqui,s recommendation was spot on. The five towns are built on the sides of mountains and are ...

... them closely resembling that of the "Mi scusi" scene in Eurotrip, we arrived in the quaint little village of Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy. We are now in the land of five villages each set up on the mountain above sparkling blue-green water crashing in ...

... We had a early night to prepare for the early morning the following day.
We woke up nice and early and caught an early train from LaSpezia to the first of the 5 villages of 'Cinque Terre' (5 villages) This allowed us to beat both the heat of the sun ...

... so many because the hike was just so beautiful! The train ride to LaSpezia from Rome was about 4 hours. Our hotel was in LaSpezia, right outside of Riomaggiore. It was cute, had a lot of shopping, but the people could have been a little more ...

... one binario to the other since our train from Rapallo was running late! Off to the next change in Parma.
Between Parma and LaSpezia (the longest of the 3 segments) there was only 2nd class available on the train, so we had booked the whole trip ...

We had originally planned to do an excursion into Tuscany today for a wine tasting at a vineyard, but that was cancelled to my great disappointment. So we then we set up an excursion to go to Pisa for the afternoon. So trying to make Lemon Cello out ...

The first real test in driving long distances in Europe, we left Nice for LaSpezia, Italy, a three and a half hour drive. We were fairly confident that the trip to Italy by car would be fine after getting advice from friends before we left, and ...

... instead of hiking on to the final village of Monterosso, which supposedly has the most challenging part of the hike.
Once back at LaSpezia we collected our baggage (reluctantly) and caught a bus to our hotel outside of the city. This in itself proved ...

... of the entry into the restaurant.... and there, was none other than Leisa and Brad. Standing there, actually standing in Italy, in LaSpezia, in our restaurant!!! With a mouth full of bread which was half spat out into Todd’s shoulder as that ...